The purpose of the study is to find out how Oligocottus maculosus homes and what mechanisms or sensory channels are involved in the homing process. The species' home range was defined from pool fidelity and movement observations. Evidence was obtained to show that the fish homes when displaced to unfamiliar areas. The roles of season, distance and direction of displacement as well as sex, size and experience of the fish in homing were assessed. The roles of both vision and olfaction and the related environmental cues were also investigated. Some fish showed strict fidelity to specific tide-pools while others moved from one pool to another but limited themselves to a restricted group of neighbouring pools. The range of movement seldom exceeded an area of about one hundred square feet which was defined as the maximum home range. Homing, i.e. striving to return to its home range instead of going to other equally habitable areas, was observed throughout the year; homing was most successful between March and August. This seasonal variation was probably the result of mortality owing to the seasonal sea conditions. In my study O. maculosus had been shown to home from as far as one thousand feet. A decrease in homing returns with increasing distances from home was observed. This was attributed to the effects of wave action which decreased the chances of survival with increasing distances from home. Direction of displacement did not seem to affect homing performance and no difference in homing performance was observed between the sexes or among fish of different sizes. Fish which were shown to home at least once seemed to home better than naive fish though no further improvement in homing was observed when the former were repeatedly displaced. There is a strong indication that there is inherent variability in homing ability, that some fish home better than others and that learning per se is not important. Displacement experiments conducted with blind and anosmic fish had shown that blind fish could home better than anosmic fish indicating that olfaction, not vision, is more important in homing. Studies on the ability to home on cloudy nights, the ability to discriminate sea water from different sources in the laboratory and the ability to return to pools with the immediate environment destroyed further indicated the importance of olfaction in the homing mechanism of O. maculosus. How the fish finds its way from the release point to its home range is still not known with certainty. However, it is suggested that the fish homed by (i) following odour streams originating from its home area or (ii) an exploratory search process or (iii) a combination of the two processes. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate

Preventive dental programs designed to reduce the incidence of gingivitis and periodontal disease have met with only limited success. The advent of behavioural technology offered a possible application to this problem. The present study examined the effects of two behavioural techniques, the Premack Principle and self-monitoring, on the maintenance of preventive dental health behaviour. Experiment 1 attempted to determine the validity of the Premack Principle using both toothbrushing and flossing as instrumental and contingent responses. Twelve female students of a dental assisting instructional program were exposed to various baseline and contingency conditions of brushing and flossing, daily for 11 weeks, according to a single-subject reversal design. When access to the contingent response was prevented, six of the twelve subjects showed a reliable increase in instrumental responding. Compared to baseline performance, six of seven subjects and four of twelve subjects evidenced reinforcement effects due to a contingency which allowed unlimited and. limited access, respectively, to the contingent response. However, increases in instrumental responding observed during these conditions failed to surpass those observed when access to contingent responding was prevented, in all but three subjects. These results would suggest that many observed increases in instrumental responding which are often cited as evidence supporting the Premack Principle may be due in fact simply to the unavailability of the contingent response. Additional theoretical implications of these findings were discussed. Experiment 2 factorially compared two levels of the Premack Principle (contingency vs. no contingency between flossing and brushing) with three levels of self-monitoring (no SM, SM-frequency, and SM-frequency plus evaluation). Ninety first and second year university student volunteers were assigned to one of six treatment groups. Instruction in brushing and flossing technique as well as application of the appropriate experimental manipulation was provided in two instructional sessions. Subjects' oral hygiene was assessed according to a gingival index and a plaque index before, one month following, and seven months following instruction.. Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed only a significant Assessment effect. All treatment groups showed an equivalent large degree of improvement in oral hygiene from pre- to one month postinstruction. Improved plaque scores were maintained over the six-month follow-up period; gingival scores, however, were not. A no-treatment control group differed from the six treatment groups only at the one-month postinstructional assessment. These results show.that instructions to implement a contingency between flossing and brushing, and different levels of self-monitoring, failed to augment the short-term gains in oral hygiene produced by instruction in brushing and flossing technique per se. None of the experimental components differentially contributed to maintenance. A third and final experiment examined the effect of the Premack Principle on the maintenance of.effective brushing and flossing within a private dental clinic. Thirty dental patients were alternately assigned to an experimental Premack Principle group or a control group. Subjects of both groups received two sessions of individualized instruction in oral hygiene techniques. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed only a significant Assessment effect, from pre-to three months postinstruction, only for plaque, but not gingival, scores. Instructions to impose a contingency between flossing and brushing failed to produce an effect. The results of this study demonstrated that neither self-monitoring nor instructions to impose a contingency between flossing and brushing contributed to the maintenance of effective oral hygiene behaviour. Self-management programs must become more concerned with the issue of maintenance, particularly following cessation of experimental or therapeutic contact. Implications for maintenance strategies were discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The present study was designed to provide data bearing directly on the question of the influence of the preschool experience, and specifically, teacher behavior, on pupil social behavior.

Behavioral difficulties in the early school years pose a risk to psychosocial functioning. The failure model suggests that peer rejection explains longitudinal associations between aggression and internalizing symptoms. The model postulates that aggression leads to increases in peer rejection, which, in turn, contributes to internalizing symptoms. This study tests pathways posited by the failure model, examining direct and indirect longitudinal effects. Direct effects models examined associations between reactive aggression and internalizing problems, reactive aggression and peer rejection, and peer rejection and internalizing symptoms. A mediation model examined the indirect effect of reactive aggression to internalizing symptoms, via peer rejection. Because distinct components of the failure model are presumed to share genetic influences, removing potential genetic contributions is important when examining the environmental influences over developmental pathways posited by the model. To this end, longitudinal tests were conducted with traditional (non-genetically controlled) and MZ twin difference (genetically controlled) designs. The latter disentangled nonshared environment effects from those for genetic factors from environmental factors. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This thesis combines a theoretical perspective and a methodological technique in order to clarify the concept of negotiation. The theoretical perspective represents a merging of a formal analysis as suggested by Georg Simmel and Erving Goffman and an interactional emphasis upon reciprocity of actions as proposed by Herbert Blumer. Accordingly, a methodological scheme was constructed to examine negotiations in terms of their forms and content.

Although cooperative behavior is generally acknowledged to occur among wolves, there is a lack of systematically collected data confirming the extent of development. The objectives of this study were to collect long-term, detailed observations documenting the role of social structure, seasonal influences, and individual participation in wolf pack cooperative activities. Individual cooperative strategies were associated with age, sex, and social positions and critically compared with results of similar studies. Emphasis was placed on quantifying group and dyadic relationships, focusing on reproductive strategies and dominance structure. Additional data were collected on denning behavior, maternal care behavior, scent marking, and spontaneous individual and group howling.

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No description available.

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No description available.